One Year After BP Oil Spill, Californians Already 3 Times More Supportive of Offshore Drilling

How quickly we have forgotten those violin montages of gunky turtles and other dying sea babies!

In July 2010, angry at evil oil-drilling corporation BP for letting such a catastrophic amount of their goods leak into the Gulf of Mexico, only 34 percent of Californians said, in response to a Public Policy Institute of CA survey, that they supported offshore drilling. BP bad! (Meanwhile, we're guessing about 1 percent of the remaining 66 actually left their SUVs at home for a day. Sigh.)

Now, one year later, a July 2011 survey shows we're incapable of learning from history:

With gas prices high--but not as high as the peak in summer 2008--46 percent favor more drilling and 49 percent are opposed. In the year since the BP oil spill, support for drilling has increased 12 points (34% in favor, July 2010).

Here's the breakdown of this newfound support for drilling, by party and region:

There is a partisan divide on this question. Today, Republicans (71%) are twice as likely as Democrats (35%) and far more likely than independents (40%) to favor more drilling. Regional differences also emerge, with residents in the Central Valley (56%), Orange/San Diego Counties (52%), and the Inland Empire (52%) much more likely than those in Los Angeles County (39%) and the San Francisco Bay Area (37%) to favor more drilling. More than half of residents who live in inland counties (54%) support more drilling compared to 42 percent of those who live in coastal counties.

Very proud of L.A. in this whole equation. The OC and San Diego, however, are their usual conservative, Brown Pelican-hating selves. (Just secede already, K?) And as for all you so-called "residents who live in inland counties": Why do you get a say in this, again? Have you even seen the ocean, ever? It's kinda pretty. And bluish. Check it out sometime.

But in the end, no hypocrite is left behind. We definitely drove to work today, and definitely not in a solar-powered leafmobile with a windmill out the top. Other options for oil drilling -- such as the super scary "hydraulic fracking" technique -- are just as damaging. Until we give up gas for good, we're all just little "Yes" check-marks in a Public Policy Institute survey.